Sen. Barack Obama’s big speech on Iraq tomorrow is a big gamble when there’s no reason to be speaking on anything other than the economy.
Media moguls are billing Obama’s talk as a speech as important as his eloquent race relations peroration in Philadelphia. Following the speech, he’ll have a FULL HOUR interview on the subject. Isn’t that overkill? It’s not that the Iraq war isn’t important, but Obama should be saving the Iraq speech as a kind of ace in the hole.
Conventional wisdom isn’t always wise. And through repetition and distortion in the last two or three weeks, John McCain and associates (Randy Scheunemann chief among them) have created and established the myth that Obama has not just flip flopped on his signature primary pledge of ending the Iraq occupation, but has actually come in closer alignment to McCain’s position!
To speak of Iraq now, before his campaign trip, isn’t going to get Obama more votes. It’s going to vindicate the McCain line that Obama is windsurfing on the war– in wartime.
Obama ought to save the Iraq speech for his return from Iraq. Then, with retiring GOP Senator Chuck Hagel and Jack Reed (D-RI) flanking him (both outspoken war critics in their own right), Obama will be in a position to be definitive, persuasive and nuanced — all things good presidents must be, and things Obama hopes to be tomorrow… but won’t. I won’t be surprised when the story that Obama is weak on Iraq continues.
To the operatives, pollsters and cynics alike, elections are about getting votes–pure and simple. Talking about Iraq right now could lose Obama votes, whereas blasting away on, say, Washington’s ways in the wake of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would hit all the buttons the DNC should be pushing right about now.
Tags: Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, iraq, Iraq War, Randy Scheunemann